Shelf

“ But to gain a perfect view one must go yet farther, over a curving brow to a slight shelf on the extreme brink. This shelf, formed by the flaking off of a fold of granite, is about three inches wide, just wide enough for a safe rest for one’s heels. To me it seemed nerve-trying to slip to this narrow foothold and poise on the edge of such precipice so close to the confusing whirl of the waters; and after casting longing glances over the shining brow of the fall and listening to its sublime psalm, I concluded not to attempt to go nearer, but, nevertheless, against reasonable judgment, I did. ”

“ Once alive but now the smallest of freaks jarred on shelves, and the largest grounded in containers, they were a reminder that there was a stage of mangled life, of death, of being put on a shelf, of being displayed as a museum piece, and myriad other unknown possibilities. ”

“ Deep in the solemn echoing caves, ticketed and labeled each one, and arranged in order, shelf on shelf, was to be found the finest specimen of everything in the world which men had made or loved. The most comfortable chair in the world was there, the pointedest pin, the warmest blanket, the loudest drum, the stickiest glue, the most interesting book, the funniest joke, the largest diamond, the most lifelike stuffed cat, the handsomest lamp-shade, and a thousand things more. ”

“ I had noticed the offices, furnished with a richness worthy of a bank or some great downtown institution. Now, in the lavatory, immaculate with its white tile and modern appointments, I saw a shelf literally stacked, in this day of paper, with linen towels of the finest quality. ”

“ There were low book cases with their continuous top used as a shelf for a hundred various objects, deep long chairs of caressing ease and chairs of coffee-colored wicker with amazingly high backs woven with designs of polished shells into the semblance of spread peacocks' tails. ”

“ The living room had an open fireplace, for it was one of the cabinet-maker's pleasures to sit in the firelight when the work of the day was over, and a small oil stove sufficed for his cooking. On one side of the chimney was a high-backed settle, and above it a book shelf. Like most Scotch boys, he had had a fair education, and possessed a genuine reverence for books and a love of reading. In the opposite corner was an ancient mahogany desk where he kept his accounts, and near by in the window a shelf always full of plants in the winter. ”

“ My words are little jars
For you to take and put upon a shelf.
Their shapes are quaint and beautiful,
And they have many pleasant colours and lustres
To recommend them.
Also the scent from them fills the room
With sweetness of flowers and crushed grasses. ”

“ This shelf is a piece of wood eight inches long and half an inch square. In the back of the shelf are fixed two iron pegs, which fit into the holes in the frame to keep the shelf in position. At each side of the frame is a wooden support screwed on to the outside by one end, so that it can be moved freely backwards or forwards, hinge fashion: the free end of each support fits into holes bored in the stand. By moving the supports backwards or forwards, and putting them in the holes in the stand, the easel can be lowered or raised at pleasure. ”

“ I had it, these impressions in the dust of the shelf were just such as would be made by a person steadying himself for a close look at the old picture. And this accounted also for the overturned chair, and for the handkerchief used as a duster. Some one’s interest in this picture had been greater than mine; some one who was either very near-sighted or whose temperament was such that only the closest inspection would satisfy an aroused curiosity. ”

“ Under this shelf is a cupboard and refrigerator a little larger than doll's size, and in the spare corners within reach of Mat's hand there are various boxes and shelves; for every inch of space in a lunch wagon must be utilized, just as in the cabin of a canal boat, which it resembles not a little.
“'MAY I COME IN AND GET WARM?” STAMMERED THE BOY'”
Outside the counter the remaining wall space is occupied by a narrow shelf set about with round stools. ”

“ On the shelf are foodstuffs, Very lights, a couple of rockets, a knobkerrie, a copy of Punch, a shortbread tin full of candles, a map, an automatic pistol, and, most curiously, a dust-encrusted French cookery-book, which has taken on the qualities of an antique, and become a kind of landlord's fixture among 'trench stores' in the eyes of the ever-changing succession of company commanders who have 'taken over,' week in and week out, since the French occupation in '14. ”

“ The food should be placed on a shelf at a good height from the ground, and in a warm situation, well sheltered from cold winds. Protection, too, is necessary for the food; a garden light reared against the house wall answers the purpose admirably. ”

“ Adjustable Shelf Fittings.—The old-fashioned varieties of shelf adjustments for wooden bookcases, such as pegs fitting into holes drilled in the uprights, one and a half or two inches apart, wooden or metal ratchets for carrying bars or rods for supporting the shelves, and similar devices, may be dismissed as unsuitable for modern library purposes. ”

“ The edge of the desk is protected by a ledge, as usual, and under it is a second shelf extending the whole width of the piece of furniture. What was the use of these shelves? As the bar is above the desk, not below it, the books must have reposed, as a general rule, upon the desk, instead of being laid on their sides on the shelf below it when not wanted by a reader. The chains would not have been long enough to allow of any other arrangement. I think, therefore, that the lower shelf must have been a constructional contrivance, to assist in keeping the standards in their places. ”

“ Two interesting and useful pieces of furniture are shown in Fig. 9—a book-ledge and a stool; and as the main shelf is but fourteen inches wide, they will not occupy a great deal of space in a room. The main shelf is forty-two inches long, fourteen inches wide, and one and a quarter inches thick. The side pieces or legs supporting it are twelve inches wide and thirty-three inches high. These pieces are thirty-six inches apart, and arranged between them, twenty inches above the floor, an under ledge eight inches wide is fastened with long screws and brackets. ”

“ These spaces will allow ample room for the average sizes. The 'Atlas' folios and 'Elephant' folios are best accommodated in single shelves, in which they may be flat, or on trays or table cases. [46] Bear in mind always to allow sufficient space for expansion. Nothing causes more disorder than insufficient shelf accommodation. All cases should be numbered and lettered, that is, each section should have a number, and each shelf a letter. For the accommodation of expensive bindings or rare books and MSS., a special case may sometimes be required. ”

“ The space between uprights, that is, the length of each shelf, should not exceed two and a half feet. All spaces between shelves should be 101⁄2 or 11 inches high, to accommodate large octavos indiscriminately with smaller sizes; and a base shelf for quartos and folios, at a proper height from the floor, will restrict the number of shelves to six in each tier. ”

“ But the amateur who not only worships but reads books, needs larger receptacles; and in the open oak cases for modern authors, and for books with common modern papers and bindings, in the closed armoire for books of rarity and price, he will find, we think, the most useful mode of arranging his treasures. His shelves will decline in height from the lowest, where huge folios stand at ease, to the top ranges, while Elzevirs repose on a level with the eye. It is well that each upper shelf should have a leather fringe to keep the dust away. ”

“ An over-mantel is appropriate in the dining room if anywhere, as it affords shelf room for choice china or glass that ought to be seen. A little ingenuity can go a great way in dressing up a commonplace shelf so that it shall have dignity and importance. ”

“ To finish, cut a shelf from a ten-inch board, full 36 inches long; mortise two of the corners to fit or catch into the two front pillars; this you lay on the two centre cross-pieces, which forms you a snug interior shelf on which you lay all the figures that you use [Pg 17] in the performance. A proscenium, cut out of thick cardboard, and tastefully decorated or painted, should be hung in front of the stage. This, with the calico covering that you wrap around the frame, completes the structure, illustrations of which may be seen on our title-page and next succeeding engraving. ”

“ Modern tables are provided with a shelf underneath, which runs from end to end at a convenient height from the floor; and this arrangement is exceedingly useful in large kitchens, because it saves a great deal of going to and fro between the centre and side tables; and in small kitchens where the table space is limited the wide shelf forms a good substitute. The table should be made of good, well-seasoned deal or other white hard wood; the top must be smooth, without cracks, and substantial, and the legs perfectly plain and strong. ”

“ A wooden shelf raised a few feet from the floor is the sleeping-place, and the bedding consists of sheep-skins, the condition of which, long used and seldom if ever washed, may be imagined. A painted frame-house is hardly to be seen outside of [Pg 287] the large towns; no peasant would aspire to such a luxury. ”

“ On the shelf to the right are a dirty Prayer-book, a pocket dictionary, a pair of boots, a gaudy bag worked in beads, and the crushed remains of a woman’s bonnet, made of the commonest black lace, and flattened into shapelessness. ”

“ Upon the top shelf had always been kept, in those early days, the volumes most forbidden and most desired. We rarely attained them because among the diverse attractions a houseful of forbidden joys offered, those most easily accessible in limited time, naturally invited first attention. ”

“ A notch is cut at the front of each shelf, and a corresponding one in the staff that binds the shelves together, so that they are spaced, from the bottom up, eleven, ten, and nine inches apart. Slim, steel-wire nails two inches long will [351] secure the brackets to the wall, or long, slim screws may be used.
A Butler’s Tray
For the house that is not built with a butler’s pantry, or for the mother who does her own housework, the tray and drop-ledge shown in Fig. 9 will be found a very convenient piece of dining-room furniture.
Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. ”

“ Each shelf is secured to the uprights by hinges on the upper side, so as to permit it to be swung upwardly, or folded; and below each hinge is a triangular block or bracket, fixed to the shelf, to support it in a horizontal position.
Fig. 252.
A sad-iron holder, or bookcase, shown in Fig. 252, is another simple form of structure. It may be sufficiently large to serve as a standing case by having the uprights at the ends serve as legs, or the uprights may have holes at their upper [Pg 160] ends, by means of which it can be suspended on a wall. ”

“ The room should be surrounded with bookcases, the lower portion made to take large books, and with some part of it covered in with cupboard fronts, with shelving inside to file away periodicals and papers; the shelf which this lower projection forms will do admirably [130] for the arrangement of ornaments, small busts, or other personal things, with which a man crowds the room he really lives in ”

“ If one is traveling two nights in succession the bedding is rolled up by a steward in the morning and put on the top shelf of the compartment, where it remains during the day, and is taken down the second night for use. ”

“ A low, broad table with a large, shallow drawer and a shelf half way down one side will be found the most convenient place to work and this can be moved as the work progresses from place to place so as to make as little walking and lifting as possible. ”

“ The genius of the place should be a refined hospitality, such as the gentle old codger had practised with them, and to facilitate this there should be a pair of high-backed settles, one under each window. The book-counter should stretch the whole length of the store, and at intervals beside it, against the book-shelving, should be set old-fashioned chairs, but not too old-fashioned. [Pg 196] Against the lower book-shelves on a deeper shelf might be stood against the books a few sketches in water-color, or even oil. ”

“ Lower cases should be provided if rapidity of service is particularly required and there is plenty of floor space to carry the stock. The top shelf of a case 7 feet high, including cornice and plinth, can be reached from the floor by any one of ordinary height, small boys and girls of course excluded. These cases are made with middle partitions between the backs of the shelves, though some librarians prefer a simple framework of uprights, cornice, and plinth. ”

“ The walls carried shelves from floor to ceiling, and every shelf had its line of boxes enclosing samples of an abundant and valuable stock. The large room at the back was a sort of counting-house parlour, where Mr. Barlowe sat during the day with his son and an elderly clerk, ready for the customers, whose arrival was announced by the ringing of a spring.-bell. The scales for the weighing of the bullion and the worked gold and silver wire were suspended above, the broad counter in the shop, and from a hook between the shelves there hung a number of ruled forms with spaces for oz., dwt. ”

“ Use both covers for the legs. Cut them the height the table is to be.
2. Turn one box bottom up; fit the two pieces of the covers on the ends and fasten.
3. Turn the other box bottom up and fit it in from the bottom. Slide it up or down until the proportions look right for the shelf. Fasten the shelf at both ends to the legs.
4. Fasten on the projecting top. This may be the cover of a slightly larger box or of extra cardboard.
5. Shape the legs. You might cut vertical slats in the ends between the shelf and top.
6. Paint to match furniture.
[65]
Details of Library Table. ”